Down, Under
by Jackwithoutabox
Summary: Rick Dale was a technician in Riverdale. His father died in a nuclear explosion, buried under the rubbles. Rick had always wanted to be better than his father. He got a job in another reactor, far from the explosion. He worked hard for to prevent any acci


It _was_ beautiful morning, the Sun was shining, bird chirping in the woods and clouds thinly distributed throughout the sky. Rick viewed his usual morning through the thick windscreen of his car, a Ford Escape. The brown dusty road mixed well with the lush green of the grass field along the sides. Yellow bus ahead of his car was driving slowly as usual, like the tourist's bus in the cities. Rick didn't mind it, he believed he never would, it was a great pleasure to see the colourful world.

He was near where he wanted to be, which was also what he wished to be at every childhood day. It was a white building, quite tall and totally environment friendly. That was unless an accident happen repeating the nightmare so many years ago. Rick took a peek at his little toy robot at the seat left to him. It was too, from the world so far away. Its shining metal hardly had a bit of rust, the hollow black eyes always seemed so friendly, the arms were curved in, making itself sure that it would hug one when one wished to. He stared into the eyes of the robot, feeling the darkness pulling him into an illusion, he felt as though he was back there, fifteen years ago.

Rick and his classmates were attentive to the attractive Miss Diaz. Though so long ago, the place was still so clear, so focus. He could see Diaz in her long grey tight skirt, her small chest in the brown vest. She wore a spectacle that day, a red rim one. The class was studying on eggs, chicken egg to be specific. Miss Diaz was passing each of them an egg that came, most probably, from the farm a few miles away. Rick held the egg dearly in his palm, afraid to drop it. The boy a few seats away attempted to juggle his own egg, few from his good friends, to get a girl's attention. The girl had ignored him, sitting on her chair with her arms folded.

"Put the eggs down Vincent." Diaz shouted, her marble black eyes turned to his direction.

Vincent placed the eggs on his desk slowly, he knew that the warning for strictly the last for him through the year and he knew better that he would not cross the last line. Before Vincent got himself seated, a bright flash appeared somewhere so distant. It was followed by a loud sound of explosion. The class was shaking badly; the beakers in old wooden cupboard, filled to the brim with colourless liquids were spilling; and the old grey ceiling fans were showing that they would drop if the shakes continue. Diaz tried to call for calmness in the class and asking them to hide under the desk for their own safety. Rick listened to his surrounding like he always did. Getting under the desk with his egg tightly but carefully tucked within his clench fist, he was listening to the whispering voices.

"Can it be..."

"Be what?"

"A reactor explosion?"

He was stunned, not by the desk with was shaking and hitting his head every moment, but by that small conversation. He was surprised, so surprised till stoning that he didn't notice his hand loosing the grip. The brown egg slipping from his palm, rolling down from the sweaty fingers, dropping to the ground like a carpet bomb.

It cracked, and the yellow yolk leak out from the cracks onto the ground at where he squatted.

Everyone had a half day for then, and the teachers told them that the school term had ended. No one was in any mood of celebration, they were all shaken. The school called everyone's parents, to pick them up. A long while passed before Rick spot his mum in the green Beatle. She was too, nervous, shaken and silence. She opened the door, slowly stepped out. She managed to get a smile on her face, trying to act as though nothing had happened for the past hours."You_ are_ alright, Ricky, _nothing_ happened." She reached for him and hugged him. Her voice, was so, so weird. She had been crying. "Daddy is alright, daddy will be fine. Remember what you promised Daddy, to be a better man than him, so stay strong, we are going to Grandma's house for a little vacation."

Through the hours being in the car, Rick tried to ask about the explosion, wanted to know about the surrounding, why the term ended, why they were going to Grandma's cottage."Mum, where's daddy?" Rick asked with his small voice. The car suddenly stopped. The radio replied then.  
'...Nuclear reactor...Explosion.. Our reporter there told us that the place simply disappeared, except for the scrap metals... Lucky for anyone to survive...'  
His mother turned to him; tears were all over her face. There was a long silence, even the radio was quiet: everyone was mourning.

Rick stopped his car. He reached the place where he worked. Taking one last peek at the robot, he shut the car door. He strolled toward the glass door. Beside the door, a brown panel printed: Riverdale Nuclear Reactor. Rick's dad was a technician in that reactor and he died in that reactor, buried deep down beneath the metals and chemicals. Rick winced as his mind played the imaginary scene in his head. He shook himself off the thought and continued to sign in at the computer. Not that he wanted to be like his father. His only wish in his life was to be a better man than his father and as long as the Riverdale's reactor still stand, he would be better than his father.


End file.
